Hey, this is my backyard! I lived not too far from here. It is one of the oldest parts of Davenport with stunning views of the Mississippi. There are many fine eating establishments in East Davenport and POTUS visited there today. Problem is that he has lost the vote in Iowa, [That is NOT a problem.] which voted in a GOP Governor after the gay marriage court decision. Iowans love politics and this is a local sport. If you went into the restaurants in East Davenport, (near the park,where my son organized his multi-national cricket games for two years), you would see folks reading (yes, they read) and discussing politics, the corn crop or lack of it, soybean and black angus prices, and either the St. Louis Cardinals or (boo-hiss) the Chicago Cubs. His place is close to the Mexican place where I used to take my son after a hard day’s work at the local college. Called “Rudy’s” if you are ever there.

Glad Murty “spit in the eye” of the president. Ah, good old Iowa. A great place to be from….

OMgoodness, I forgot to mention Largomarcino’s, which I can recommend even to Fr. Z. If you go there, get a hot-fudge Sunday and a Green River, which is a local, Iowa fizzy drink. They also have homemade chocolates to die for and Italian sodas….even in little old Iowa.

Did you notice how the WaPo reporter, Amy Gardner, tries to cover for Obama by claiming that he was simply referring to roads and bridges? This is the standard Democratic line, but hearing the comments in context disproves it. And after all, Obama said “you didn’t build that,” not “those,” as in roads and bridges, and surely the world’s greatest orator wouldn’t make a grammatical error.

Gardner wrote: “It was a reference to a remark Obama made several weeks ago that his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has seized upon to portray Obama as anti-business. Obama, referring to the help government provides to businesses by building roads and providing education and other services, said, ‘If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.'”

I’m actually surprised there isn’t legislation that would require a business to host such an event. I guess you can force a business provide contraception for their employees, but you can’t force them to host a political event. Maybe it has to be something like a gay pride event before you would be forced to host it.

JohnE: the man who owned the beer tent at the Iowa State Fair lost $25,000 when Obama held his photo op there. The owner called it a “forced campaign contribution” and stated he would not be voting for the incumbent.

I still can’t believe the president said that. Every time I hear it, I’m still astounded. I have to think that was part of the beginning of the end for him. My father started fixing cars in the backyard with a couple of screwdrivers and a wrench – and no, there was no government out there giving him a hand, or a hand-out. The business went on and grew, employing my brothers, too, for years. I resent those words in a very personal way, Mr. President, my Father did build that, not the government.

As a follow up, don’t forget about the bake shop guy in Maryland who was offered a meet and greet in his shop with VP Biden and told Biden’s handlers no. He was cheesed off by Obama’s comment too. He basically told the crew to go pound sand. Moments later the Secret Service entourage came in and bought a dozen cookies and some cupcakes. Their parting words were essentially, “Way to go. We’re with you.” By the end of the day the story had gone viral and the bake shop sold out of everything they’d made.

frjim,
It was not edited and it was not out of context.
I have listened to the whole execrable thing. Not only did he say it, and mean it, his voice as he said it had that nasty laughing contempt that he uses whenever he wants to denigrate someone.
As Kipling said, “It was the tone, man, the tone!”
You and Gardner can keep kidding yourselves, but it sounds increasingly hollow and desperate.

You and Gardner can keep kidding yourselves, but it sounds increasingly hollow and desperate.

“Tone” is almost always something that is inferred subjectively by the listener. If you hate someone you are going to automatically assume that his/her tone is ugly. Anyway, I will grant the that in the Roanoke speech the President did not tell the truth cleverly enough. Maybe Axlerod had to take a family day or something and was not around. It was a rare political mistake and I would agree he created a problem for himself by being a bit more truthful than the typical politician, e.g., the opponent who is being so careful he never says anything substantive.

I would also agree with you that desperation could come into play if the states continue to succeed in shutting down voting opportunities for minorities, youth and the poor.

frjim, even if Obummer meant roads and bridges who do you think built the roads and bridges? Who paid for them? Who pays for the schools that educate the workers? Hint: it is not the govt. That means that the govt. didn’t “build that” either, we the people did. And sometimes, a business has to pay for the road improvements and such that lead to their business. So again, the govt. didn’t build that. (And yes, I do think that businesses, builders/developers should kick in for road improvements and such as the strain on local resources becomes too great).

“Shutting down voting opportunities” is just talking point gibberish, and I think you know it.
Our family has worked the polls for years, and I’ve worked in the government end as well.
You need a photo ID to do just about anything these days, not just to cash a check (even at a check cashing service) but to work almost any job, or to obtain AFDC or SSI benefits. Identity theft is a problem generally, not just voter fraud identity theft. And (again despite the talking points) when you have precincts voting at 120% of registered voters and 20 voters registered to a vacant lot, there *is* voter fraud.
A *free* photo ID can be obtained at any drivers license office.
The photo ID makes cross-checking the voter rolls much easier. Aside from people who have come to the wrong precinct station (fairly common after redistricting) even in this rather middle-class neighborhood we encounter people trying to vote as somebody else (although here it’s usually an elderly lady who, when questioned, says that her husband can’t come and she is voting for him).
Unless you mean shutting down voting opportunities for the multiple voters, the illegals, the felons, the dogs, and the dead. That, I’ll grant you.

Ann,
When the City of Atlanta paved the street in front of our house, we were billed almost $6,000, which had to be paid on 30 day terms, check or cash. It was not easy to come up with that money on 30 days’ notice. Don’t pay, they slap a lien on your property and can sell it on the courthouse steps to the highest bidder.
Believe me, the businesses are hit up on a much larger scale.
Reason No. 24,203 why we no longer live in the City of Atlanta.

When the government “builds” things, it acts only as our (often incompetent) agent. Government has no funds it did not take from us. Even when they print currency for which no backing exists, they are taking from us, by means of inflation, the most insidious of taxes.

AAM: Suwanee is nice. Forsyth County has, in recent years, actually reduced the property tax level.

I can see requiring the photo ID to some extent (it is debatable but I’ll grant that for the sake of discussion) but the greater issue is purposely shutting down weekend voting in IL and OH and other places specifically because it is known that blacks and the poor tend to vote on weekends. In CHI and other urban areas it is common for black church-goers to go to church then go to vote. Removing weekend voting is capricious and obviously intended to suppress voting rights.

The speaker of congress in PA is on video publicly announcing with glee that the newly manipulated voting laws would insure the victory of the challenger in the state. I don’t have time to look for it, but it is probably on Youtube someplace.

Voter suppression is a reality, and frankly the dirty tricks of the RNC in this regard go a long way in assuaging any second thoughts I might have ever had for supporting the incumbent.

Fr. Jim: any voter suppression, if it indeed occurs (few and far between, in my book), is more than compensated by dead people voting. Especially in Chicago. Not to mention voter lists with non-citizens, dogs and illegal aliens on it.

It’s very much at the bottom of the list of problems with the integrity of the vote in the US.

The mere notion of anyone with knowledge of Chicago politics challenging voting irregularities in the national elections is almost bizarre. And as Phil has said, voter suppression is the very least of the real concerns we should address.

FrJim 4321, I’m glad you brought up Pennsylvania! Do you have time to look for the You Tube video of the Black Panthers participating in voter suppression on election day 2008? Just more RNC dirty tricks.

I heard Obama’s tone, and the entire context of his contempt filled statement, “you didn’t build that.” I used to run a business in Phoenix with a lot of outdoor work, and it’s funny, I don’t remember any government worker offering to sit in the hot sun for me. I don’t remember a public servant offering to deliver goods in the late evenings after my husband finished his day job. Where was Obama in 2009, when my husband lost 3/4 of his contracts due to the economy. Did I miss his phone call offering to help my husband find more work?

“Tone” is almost always something that is inferred subjectively by the listener. If you hate someone you are going to automatically assume that his/her tone is ugly.

True sometimes but certainly not often. Anyone who ever took a decent frosh course in composition (or speech class) will say that it’s the tone of the writer/speaker that produces the reaction in the reader/listerner–not the other way around.

Anyway, I will grant the that in the Roanoke speech the President did not tell the truth cleverly enough. Maybe Axlerod had to take a family day or something and was not around. It was a rare political mistake and I would agree he created a problem for himself by being a bit more truthful than the typical politician, e.g., the opponent who is being so careful he never says anything substantive.

That comment reminds me of my sister’s explanation some years ago of how my parents’ almost new car was seriously scratched in a grocery store parking lot. After a series of her saying “the other car did this” and “the other care did that”, I asked how fast the other car was going. Her grudging answer: “It was parked.”

I would also agree with you that desperation could come into play if the states continue to succeed in shutting down voting opportunities for minorities, youth and the poor.

That comment manifests an ignorance of the long history of US politics in urban areas.

I am a life long Chicagoan – though not for much longer, I hope — and I can assure everyone here that neither my dead father nor my loving, loyal dogs have ever voted. I too have worked the polls as a poll watcher. What I saw were mostly inept, ill-educated poll workers whose errors were due to ignorance rather than brilliant fraud.

However, there are precincts throughout the city where entire van loads of citizens, often from homes for the mentally ill or mentally handicapped, were brought in and “assisted” with voting and in Chi town that means the Democrat chad. [I refused to allow my sister to assist my Alzheimer’s stricken mother with voting in 2010.]

But even worse are those who take their citizenship duties so lightly that they vote even though blithely ignorant of candidates, issues and even the Constitution. I have come to believe that the dumbing down of our schools was a deliberate strategy on the road to serfdom.

My father was a brilliant man and did, of course, cast an educated vote in each election while alive. This while working 12 hour days with seldom a sick day off. If he could make it to the polls on all those Tuesdays throughout his 89 years, I think most of us could.

frjim4321, given your touching concern for young people and others who are being asked to bring photo id to the polls, I guess you are also outraged that the federal government is requiring illegal aliens to produce photo id in order to qualify for the new liberalized immigration policies. You’re consistent in your principles, right? Have you written a letter of concern to ICE about this shocking situation?

We’ve had some redistricting and redoing of polling places in my area and, of course, the “enlightened” usual suspects are crying foul play on the part of all the minority/poor/elderly/disadvantaged/homosexualistalphabetsoup-hating goosesteppers. Why does the left have to be so hysterical? Oh, yes, because they try to hold the weak and disadvantaged in serfish thralldom to their promises.

If Obama wants to play that chicken and egg game, someone ought to remind him that neither he, nor any human being or human institution has ever done everything. God did it all first. Those bridges and things were built from raw materials God created Ex nihilo. And that includes Mr. Obama, who God owns just as much as God owns the souls and bodies of all new born and conceived children that Obama loves to run through the meat grinder. Obama better wise up before he’s dragged to trial in the eternal court, and those judges have a strict constitution to enforce coming directly from the Throne.

frjim,
I see others have answered this already, but tone is not in the ear of the listener.
If it were, my years and years of fine-tuning my witness examination and jury argument skills all would have gone to waste.
And so would all the years you worked on delivering a good homily. Nothing is more deadly than a flat or tone-deaf delivery, whether it’s in the pulpit or at the lectern before the Supreme Court.
Assumed scorn and derisive mirth is a rhetorical technique, and I know it when I see it. I’ve used it on occasion when circumstances seemed to require it (never call a witness a liar, but you can indicate your opinion to the jury without words).
In this case, it was a wink and a nod to Obama’s sycophantic audience.

And, fr jim, the list of people I hate is very, very short. I hate the man who murdered my sister, but I try to pray for him, and sometimes I succeed.
Most times, I’m just annoyed at people, and it passes.
But I do not hate Obama. I fear him and his allies and what he has done, is doing, and plans to do to this Republic, and what he is doing to destroy the Church and Her teaching. Your Church and mine.
Even if you agree with his stated goals, you should be fearing his methods and his morals a good deal more than you seem to.

But I do not hate Obama. I fear him and his allies and what he has done, is doing, and plans to do to this Republic, and what he is doing to destroy the Church and Her teaching.

Exactly! And worse, I fear the precedents he has set. Confiscation of business, sealing of all his history and ID documents, executive orders as a congressional nullification, and on and on. None dare call it treason, though it seems clear enough that some of these acts rise (sink?) to that level.

The damage done to the Republic in his first term will take decades to undo. If it can even be undone, which will require great strength and courage in Congress, well above levels we have seen in decades.

wmeyer,
Precisely. It’s his methods that will hang around long after he is gone.
If this president can ignore contract and bankruptcy law (by ignoring first lienholders in favor of the autoworkers unions), bypass Congress with executive orders, direct the Attorney General and federal prosecutors NOT to enforce certain laws, and unilaterally declare laws unconstitutional, so can his successor. Even if he’s frjim’s idea of a mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, Bible-clinging, homophobic, misogynistic One of Them.
And somehow I don’t think frjim will be applauding then.

AAM, what appalls me is the inability of so very many otherwise intelligent people to simply not comprehend the import of these monstrous precedents. IANAL, but really, it doesn’t require a law degree to understand that precedents are a huge portion of the law.

From what I can see, nearly half the electorate shares this blind spot. I pray it is not more.

@wmeyer – Again – enter in the dumbing down of the American educational system. Do the majority of adults even “care” about what is going on with their government? Or are they more interested in Celebrity Idol (or whatever it is that is popular right now?) I despair sometimes… Yet have to remember it is all in Our Lord’s hands.

Amen on the educational system. That’s why we scrimped and saved to get our children into private schools, and why I homeschooled for awhile until we could afford it. I wouldn’t send a dog I liked to the public school, not even the Cobb County schools which are considered better than most.

Regarding those poor, possibly disenfranchised voters who prefer weekend voting or some other contrived convenience– it’s called Election Day for a reason.

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